BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1960|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1960
Author: Lackey (R), et al.
Amended: 8/17/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 10-0, 6/28/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Vehicles: Basic Inspection of Terminals program
SOURCE: California Cattlemens Association
DIGEST: This bill excludes an agricultural vehicle, as defined,
from the Basic Inspection of Terminals (BIT) program conducted
by the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/17/16 incorporate a sunset of
January 1, 2023, for the exemption of agricultural vehicles in
the BIT program and additionally require the CHP draft a report
to the Governor and Legislature on safety impacts of this
particular vehicle exemption.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Requires CHP to regulate the safe operation of commercial and
various other types of vehicles, as specified.
2)Prohibits a motor carrier from operating specific types of
vehicles without identifying to CHP all terminals in the state
where those vehicles may be inspected.
3)Requires motor carriers to make vehicles and records available
for inspection by CHP. If a motor carrier fails to provide
vehicles and records, an unsatisfactory terminal rating is
required to be issued by CHP.
4)Provides that under the BIT program, the inspection of
vehicles at a terminal be based on a representative sample of
a terminal fleet size, according to a specified schedule.
5)Requires CHP to place an inspection priority on motor-carrier
terminals that have never been previously inspected, vehicles
transporting hazardous materials, and vehicles that receive
unsatisfactory ratings. Provides that non-priority terminals
are not required to be inspected less than six years since
their last inspection.
This bill:
1)Defines an "agricultural vehicle" as a vehicle or combination
of vehicles with a gross combination weight rating or a gross
vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 26,000 pounds or less that is
operated by a farmer, employee of a farmer, or instructor
credentialed in agriculture as part of an instructional
program at the high school, community college, or university
level; used exclusively in the conduct of agricultural
operations; not used in the capacity of a for-hire carrier or
for compensation; and where the towing vehicle has a GVWR of
16,000 pounds or less.
2)Exempts an agricultural vehicle from the BIT program until
January 1, 2023.
3)Requires CHP, in consultation with the Department of Motor
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Vehicles, to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature
no later than January 1, 2022 on the safety impacts relative
to the exclusion of agricultural vehicles in the BIT program.
4)Includes technical cleanup language and adds double-jointing
language to avoid chaptering out conflicts with AB 995
(Bigelow) of the current legislative session.
Comments
1)Purpose. The author notes, "Vehicle and vehicle combinations
subject to BIT include commonly-used pickup trucks and
pickup-and-trailer combinations that for most farmers and
ranchers also serve as their personal vehicles. If not used in
farming, ranching or another commercial enterprise, these
vehicles and vehicle combinations would otherwise be exempt
from the BIT program."
The author introduced this bill to propose a narrowly tailored
exemption from BIT solely for farmers and ranchers, so long as
the pickup and/or pickup-and-trailer combination is used
solely in agriculture, not used for hire, the total gross
combined weight rating of the pickup and trailer does not
exceed 26,000 pounds, the pickup or towing vehicle has a GVWR
of less than 16,000 pounds, and the vehicle(s) are used solely
in intrastate commerce.
2)CHP's BIT program. The BIT program was implemented to ensure
the safe operation of commercial vehicles by a motor carrier
through the inspection of those vehicles at motor-carrier
terminals. In 2013, AB 529 (Lowenthal, Chapter 500, Statutes
of 2013) revised the BIT program to establish a
performance-based model for inspections, moving away from
motor-carrier terminal inspections occurring once every 25
months to a model where ongoing compliant motor carriers may
be inspected only once every six years. Non-compliant
carriers would be targeted for additional inspections to
ensure compliance. In switching to this performance-based
system, more classifications of commercial motor vehicles were
brought into the jurisdiction of BIT inspections, which both
increased the number of vehicles inspected for safety by CHP
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and spread the cost for operating the program over a greater
number of vehicles. Implementation of the revised BIT program
began January 1, 2016, and fees required under the BIT program
start at $130 per terminal annually for the smallest fleet
sizes.
3)A necessary carve-out? Although the exemption proposed by
this bill relates only to agricultural vehicles, it is unclear
why these particular vehicles need to be exempted from the BIT
program. The author's argument that these vehicles are used
for both passenger and commercial purposes (i.e., more
operation on public roads and highways) provides a greater
argument as to why these vehicles should in fact be included
in the BIT program.
Furthermore, it is unclear what the safety impact of this
exemption would be. If the specified vehicles are not
inspected under the BIT program, the risk of non-compliance
with vehicle safety standards and properly maintained driver
records is increased. However, it is important to note that
these vehicles will still be subject to various safety
requirements, including motor-carrier permit and commercial
driver's license requirements, and if a vehicle or carrier is
found to be in violation of such requirements, they would
still be subject to the appropriate penalties.
Lastly, with a particular exemption for agricultural vehicles,
this bill sets a precedent which may lead to future
legislative proposals for vehicle exemptions from other
industries.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/17/16)
California Cattlemen's Association (source)
Association of California Egg Farmers
California Association of Wine Grape Growers
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California Farm Bureau Federation
California Grain & Feed Association
California Poultry Federation
Family Winemakers of California
Western Growers Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/17/16)
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Western States Trucking Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Burke, Jones-Sawyer
Prepared by:Manny Leon / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/18/16 16:11:04
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